Message from OCSEA President Eddie Parks
Thanks to all union members who made change that matters

Dear OCSEA Member,

Yes, we did! Tuesday, Nov. 4, we made history. I’m not talking about the stale kind of history you read about in history books. This was a living, breathing history that each of you took part in, helped shape and made untold sacrifices for.

Ohio went blue by margins that no poll could capture and that no pundit could predict.  We elected by wide margins a hero of the middle class and working families to lead our country. Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States and it was Ohio’s 20 electoral votes that helped seal the deal.

We owe much of this success to labor leaders like you that helped deliver that victory. You were among the hundreds of OCSEA members and thousands of labor activists that led an historic ground game that was unmatched in Ohio history. You truly helped make change that matters.

On behalf of OCSEA’s 34,000 members, I thank you for the part you played in bringing about this historic change. Without you we could not have accomplished such an unprecedented victory.

OCSEA also accomplished another important goal. More than a year ago, this union set out to make sure that Governor Ted Strickland not only had a partner in the White House but also one in the State House. We committed to taking back the Ohio House of Representatives for working people, and Tuesday, I am proud to say, we realized that goal. We picked up an amazing seven seats at least and now hold a majority in the House.

These two unprecedented events mark a triumph for Ohio’s working families who have finally said “enough” of the nation’s failing domestic and foreign policies.

I had two thoughts as I watched President-Elect Barack Obama make history last night. One thought was the large context that this momentous event signifies in American history. Obama is the first African-American President in the history of the United States and the first African-American to hold such a powerful position in the world. I felt proud and overjoyed at what this means for the civil rights movement in this country and similar civil rights struggles around the globe.

But just as importantly, I also thought about how this election signifies a new era and a new beginning for the average worker and middle-class family, for the single mother who can’t afford daycare, for the public employee who keeps seeing his or her paycheck shrink as the cost of goods rises, for the retiree who can’t keep up with their medical bills and for the factory worker whose job has been shipped overseas.

It is for all of these everyday people that you helped affect change. With this important Presidential and our Statehouse victory, we have moved this union, this state and this country forward and begun to forge a path for the majority of Americans who need not a handout, but the opportunities that make this country great and make its citizens true beacons of hope.

In solidarity,

Eddie L. Parks
President,
OCSEA / AFSCME Local 11

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